Times-Tribune file
Scranton Police Chief Dan Duffy, in shorts at left, watches as Sgt. Patrick Gerrity speaks with Tyesha Pharr-Bacon after she allegedly punched another woman at Center Street and Wyoming Avenue in April 2011. Chief Duffy said he noticed two women fighting as he was jogging up Wyoming toward Spruce Street and flagged down Sgt. Gerrity, who was driving by.

The Scranton police chief who best embodied his own call for the community to take an active role in its protection announced his resignation Friday to accept a position teaching cadets to become police officers.

Chief Dan Duffy will end his 22-month tenure on July 20 to become director of the police academy at Lackawanna College. Capt. Carl Graziano, a 20-year veteran of the force, will serve as acting chief until a replacement is found.

During the brief announcement in Mayor Chris Doherty's office Friday morning, Chief Duffy said the move was "absolutely not" related to the city's fiscal crisis or the strife between the public safety unions and the administration.

"I want to make a significant impact on law enforcement," he said, "and there is no better way for me to do that than right now in this position that I've been offered."

Chief Duffy cemented his reputation as a hands-on leader 13 days into his tenure as police chief in September 2010, when he made the first of what would become regular off-duty arrests. He enlisted citizens in crime fighting at a time when the size of the police force shrank with the department's budget. And he emphasized that apparently small actions - neighborhood crime watch walks, blight patrols and minor drug busts - can help prevent serious crime.

Mayor Doherty said he is happy that Chief Duffy's talent has earned him a "better job."

"It's a reflection of the quality of the people we have working in the city that someone would want to give them a big responsibility and the opportunity to grow and be successful," he said. "That's what they've done with Chief Duffy."

Chief Duffy, 37, joined the police force in 1998 and worked as a patrolman, narcotics investigator, and sergeant before being elevated to chief on Sept. 8, 2010.

As chief, he earned a salary of $83,000 until City Council cut his salary to around $80,000 at the beginning of the year. Like all city employees, he now makes minimum wage at $7.25 an hour.

He vowed to lead from the streets and did: He made dozens of arrests as chief, including several that spurred him to chase suspects on foot through yards and over fences. He once made a drug bust as his mother rode along in the patrol car.

"He's a 24-7 police officer," said Capt. Graziano, who was once Chief Duffy's boss and who worked closely with him during the last 14 years. "You never knew where he was going to be. At 3 o'clock in the morning, he was out on patrol if he couldn't sleep. It was in his blood."

When one of Chief Duffy's off-duty arrests prompted the police union to file a grievance against the city, residents protested by affixing "We â¤ Chief Duffy" bumper stickers to cars and windows.

Efforts to reach Detective Lt. Bob Martin, president of the police union, were unsuccessful.

The chief enlisted citizens in an ongoing effort to detect and report crime. He urged the community to participate in law enforcement through the "Be Part of the Solution" campaign he promoted in community meetings, with televised public service announcements, and on signs, T-shirts and ubiquitous bumper stickers that were translated into several languages, including Spanish, Italian and Gujarati.

He rode along with neighborhood watch bike patrols and developed satellite precincts in North, West and South Scranton.

With the entire police force, he helped define the department as "a community police department" so residents "see and know" police officers by name, City Councilman Pat Rogan said.

"Everyone in the city is sad to see him go," he said.

Karin Foster, president of the West Scranton-Hyde Park Neighborhood Watch, said Chief Duffy helped the group secure grants through their affiliation with the city police department and grow to nearly 200 active members since October 2010.

The chief would come to many meetings with a note pad in hand, jotting down community members' complaints to take back to city police headquarters to act on, she said.

"People are becoming more confident that they can get a result from what they are seeing," she said. "And there have been results."

Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola said the chief injected new life into the city police department through his ambition and by leading by example. He also successfully reached out to other law enforcement agencies and municipal police departments in the surrounding communities to bring them together.

"I think it showed the public that we do work together as one unit," Mr. Jarbola said.

Lackawanna College President Mark Volk said he knew "immediately" that Chief Duffy was the right person to become the police academy's director when the current director, Willard Oliphant, transitions out of the role on July 23.

"Dan is a clear leader. He understands how leadership impacts the role of an officer and he understands involvement with the community and a commitment to the community," he said. "All of those things together make him the perfect person to step in and train that next group of cadets."

Chief Duffy is a graduate of the police academy, was the college's first public safety officer and is currently an instructor there, Mr. Volk said.

The chief graduated from Keystone College in May with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice.

Mayor Doherty said Friday he has "tremendous confidence" in Capt. Graziano, who also has the trust of the department and the agencies it works with, he said.

As interim chief, Capt. Graziano said he intends to build on many of the policing initiatives Chief Duffy started or enhanced during his short tenure, including an emphasis on community engagement.

"The police cannot solve communities' problems without the community's involvement," he said.

-âSept. 21: Chief Duffy makes his first arrest as chief. The arrest happened while he was off duty and heading over to the police headquarters to work out. He arrested a Jessup man on drug charges.

-âNov. 24: While working an aggressive-driving detail, Chief Duffy arrests two individuals for drunken driving.

-âJan. 21, 2011: While shopping at Gerrity's Supermarket on South Main Avenue, Chief Duffy arrests a man for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

-âFeb. 23: Chief Duffy formally announces his "Be Part of the Solution" campaign. The campaign is to encourage the residents of Scranton to get involved in their community's crime watches.

-âFeb. 27: Chief Duffy arrests two people in Walgreens parking lot after noticing a suspicious vehicle and calling for backup. The pair were charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, false ID to law enforcement and violating the city's open-container ordinance.

-âMarch 20: Chief Duffy arrests a man on one count of marijuana possession and one count of drug paraphernalia. The chief made the arrest while off-duty, responding to citizen complaints about possible drug activity.

-âApril 18: The Scranton police union files a complaint with the state Labor Relations Board over the March 20 off-duty arrest. The union says the arrest goes against its collective bargaining unit. Chief Duffy is not a member of the police union.

-âApril 22: Ed Carr, president and owner of Scranton Label Co., produces bumper stickers that say "We â¤ Chief Duffy." Mr. Carr said he made the stickers to show support for Chief Duffy after the police union filed a complaint against the chief.

-âMay 8: Chief Duffy announces the department will be starting a Citizens Police Academy. Participants in the 11-week course will learn about all aspects of law enforcement, from patrol officers' duties to detectives' investigative work to court proceedings.

-âMay 24: The complaint filed by the city police union is tossed by the state Labor Relations Board.

-âJune 6: The union announces it will file an exception on its unfair labor practices complaint against Chief Duffy and the city. The exception filing calls for a three-person panel to hear the complaint in Harrisburg.

-âAug. 16: The state Labor Relations Board orders a hearing on the complaint.

-âOct. 4: Chief Duffy cites two women for disorderly conduct stemming from a fight the chief broke up in the Rite-Aid parking lot on Luzerne Street.

-âDec. 5: The state Labor Relations Board postpones the hearing for the unfair labor complaint.

-âDec. 22: While on patrol with members of the Citizens Police Academy, Chief Duffy and Patrolman William Golden arrest three people on drug charges. The individuals were stopped after their vehicle was parked in a handicapped zone. One of the members of the academy with the chief was his mom, Carol Ann Duffy.

-âMarch 16, 2012: Chief Duffy announces police will be cracking down on unkempt properties citywide. This crackdown is part of the chief's Be Part of the Solution campaign.

-âMay 19: Chief Duffy graduates from Keystone College with a degree in criminal justice.

-âMay 29: While on blight patrol, Chief Duffy arrests a man wanted by the Lackawanna County district attorney's office on drug charges.

-âJuly 6: Chief Duffy announces he is resigning as chief to take over as head of the police academy at Lackawanna College.

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